Ø Agaricales s. lato. The basic taxonomic work that I started with in the 1960´s, especially when preparing my Ph. D. thesis, continues. Besides specific taxonomy, attention is also paid to some problems of generic limits. The following genera, in particular, are involved: Clitocybe (incl. Lepista), Cystoderma, Cystodermella, Hygrophorus, Infundibulicybe, Suillus and Xerocomus. Especially in the 1970´s I collected in eastern and northern Finland a good amount of material that still awaits for a closer examination.
Ø Pezizales s. lato. Concerning this group of ascomycetes with fleshy, often moderately sized apothecia, I continue with my taxonomic work at the specific, generic and even family level. Several undescribed species in certain genera await their formal description. Some of them are ready to be described while the statuses of others require further study. Calcareous ground in boreal and arctic/alpine regions host a good number of most interesting Helvella species while numerous unknown or poorly defined species of Otidea thrive especially in hemiboreal and boreal forest.
Ø Phylogenetic affinities of some forest soil sclerotia. A few kinds of these sterile things have an anamorph name, others do not. Molecular approach is used to trace the taxonomic and phylogenetic position of these fungi. – The work is performed in collaboration with Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla).
Ø Metapopulation composed of fungal flora in spots spontaneously impregnated by elk urine. Qualitative mycological studies treat with this curious ecological niche which is formed especially in northern Europe when a moose, or European elk (Alces alces) urinates in the woods of. Most probably these niches are formed during the winter when the urine reaches the frozen soil surface through the snow cover. The urine, too subsequently freezes and supplies a rich nutrition of ammonia (NH4OH) when melting in the spring. Several ascomycete species of the order Pezizales, belonging to the genera Byssonectria and Pseudombrophila, seem to be specialized in living in this environment. A few other microbes possibly share this mode of life. The subpopulations of these species every spring make use of a short-lived habitat, or niche, very restricted in time and space, which will soon disappear in the season.
Ø Vascular plants. Taxonomy (including cytotaxonomy and chemotaxonomy), floristics, also some monitoring of endangered species. As a reward for numerous trips in Finland that literally included crawling within the vegetation, I observed interesting variation in some genera such as Arabidopsis, Carex, Cystopteris, Dryopteris, Fallopia, Festuca, Huperzia, Juncus, Luzula, Polypodium, Pteridium, Rhododendron (the Ledum group), Veronica, Viola and Woodsia. Studies on these genera continue. Present observations suggest that undescribed species of e.g. Carex and Viola may even exist in Finland and near-by regions. Also the variation in European Rhododendron subsect. Ledum may warrant some new taxonomic decisions. – Cytological (chromosome counting and flow cytometry), chemical and molecular methods are used in some analyses. – The work is partly performed in collaboration with Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz), Masaryk University (Brno), Czech Academy of Sciences (Pruhonice), Royal Botanic Gardens (Sidney), Division of Pharmaceutical Biology (University of Helsinki).
Ø Carex inflorescence. Careful observing of inflorescences of Carex species under the dissecting microscope sometimes reveals different, most interesting atavistic structures which may represent the plesiomorphic states of the respective structures. These atavisms may thus suggest how the evolution towards the present-day structures (especially the perigynium) has proceeded.
Created in 2001. Latest revision October 11, 2009.